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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22686937">100 Million Miles Away</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrindor/pseuds/Yrindor'>Yrindor</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Epistolary, F/F, Outer Space</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 09:43:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,924</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22686937</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrindor/pseuds/Yrindor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Her princess may be locked up on an unspecified planet on the far side of a distant galaxy, but that hasn't stopped the knight from being her princess's most devoted champion.  She will do anything to find her princess and bring her home again.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lady Knight/Far-away Princess She Writes Letters to</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Chocolate Box - Round 5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>100 Million Miles Away</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadaras/gifts">Shadaras</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Letter sent from the outpost on the far side of the planet Terra Minor III, third planet from the star SAO-2736.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>My dear Princess,</p>
  <p>They tried telling us you were dead. The rest of the court may have believed their lies, but I know you wouldn't die that easily, and they wouldn't dare kill you. They thought they could keep it a secret, but at last I've found where they are holding you. I hope that its isolation and distance from here means that they have left you with little by way of other guards and this letter reaches you safely.</p>
  <p>If you receive this, please write me so that I know you are well. Send it to the address you know; I have a trusted courier who will see that I receive it.</p>
  <p>May the stars watch over you until such a time as we do meet again.</p>
  <p>I remain, as always, your most faithful liege and Champion.</p>
</blockquote><p>Letter sent from the highest tower on the planet Pseudopolaris 27-C-IV. Population: 1. Nearest major population center of organic lifeforms: 12.7 light years away.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>My dear dear Champion,</p>
  <p>How my heart swelled to receive your missive. It is lonely here, though the robotic servants they provided treat me well and can even supply some simple conversation to fill the empty hours.</p>
  <p>The days here are shorter than those I am accustomed to. The nights as well, and the sky as empty and lonely as I feel. How I long to see the twin moons rising into the sky above the palace again as I cradle your breast in my arms. The robots here smell of metal and oil, but it is nothing like the scent of your armor as I help you into it before battle.</p>
  <p>I hope I have been largely forgotten by those who sent me here, but they have wards that lie heavy over this tower, strengthened by the ley lines that converge under it. I dare not say too much in this letter, but please do write again. Your words buoy me up against the heavy gravity of this place. They say it is only half again what we are used to, but it feels far heavier.</p>
  <p>With a love that is as strong and unchanging as ever, I remain your princess.</p>
</blockquote><p>Letter from the interstellar refueling station, equidistant between Aldebaran and its closest neighbor:</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>My dear Princess,</p>
  <p>I believe I see the shape of the place in which you now reside.  I too miss you terribly.  I enclose in this letter a shed claw from one of the serpents that hides in the sand dunes of Tricenturion 6B.  You know what they say about them, so I will avoid wasting space on such things here.  I travel next to the third moon of Aquarion VIII in search of a sample of the liquid that swirls beneath its icy poles.  Descending to the planet requires significant prior preparation as the entire surface is corrosive and covered in pockets of toxic gas.  The liquid is claimed to be so powerful it can eat through even the strongest of magical wards.</p>
  <p>I believe such things to be exaggeration of course, but the mystery does warrant further study.  I will be working closely with the research crew from one of the mobile stations; you met them several years ago.  My correspondence may be delayed while we are down on the planet; the mail couriers are unwilling to risk their vessels in the corrosive atmosphere.  Ours, of course, are reinforced to withstand such things.</p>
  <p>If you have not already adjusted to it, then I hope that by the time of my next letter you will have adjusted to the gravity of your new residence.  If it would be agreeable to my lady, it would bring me great comfort if she were to sleep with the enclosed claw under her pillow.  Consider it a token of admiration if you will.</p>
  <p>I remain, your most humble and faithful servant.</p>
</blockquote><p>Letter sent from the highest tower on the planet Pseudopolaris 27-C-IV. Population: 1. Nearest major population center of organic lifeforms: 12.7 light years away.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>My dearest knight and Champion,</p>
  <p>I wish I were able to write with better tidings.  I know not whether it is the gravity and atmosphere of this place or the wards that sit upon this tower, but they weigh on me day in and day out.  My only respite comes in the sweet release of dreams when I may fly free and think of the days past.  I sleep with your trinket under my pillow, and it has warded off the worst of the nightmares that have plagued me since my arrival.</p>
  <p>I hope that your expedition has been successful, and that no harm has come to you or any of your crew.  I await further messages from you with bated breath.  Please send word so that I may know you are safe.</p>
  <p>I remain, as always, your one and only princess.</p>
</blockquote><p>Letter sent from the research base on the plant-covered planet Terra VII-E26</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>My most beloved Princess,</p>
  <p>Your last letter weighs on me with a heavy heart.  It is perhaps with unwarranted optimism that I hope your new residence no longer bears down upon you so heavily as it did at the time of your last writing.  It buoys my spirits, however, to hear that the trinket I sent you brings you at least some temporary peace in that place.  To that end, I enclose now another trinket of my affection.  Our research mission went off without a hitch, so I enclose a single drop of the water of that planet enclosed in a crystal vial.  Should you have any windows in your quarters, I ask only that you might consider hanging it from them so that you might think of me whenever you look out.</p>
  <p>My next assignment brings me back to more familiar stretches of the universe.  I am accompanying another research expedition, this time to the rocky asteroid belts around Vega and Formalhaut.  You have heard me talk about missions such as these in the past; I expect it will be fairly straightforward without much to mention.  I am sure the geologists will have plenty to say about the rocky surfaces they wish to sample, but to me, they all look largely the same.</p>
  <p>While I await your next message, I remain as always your most true and faithful servant.</p>
</blockquote><p>Letter sent from the highest tower on the planet Pseudopolaris 27-C-IV. Population: 1. Nearest major population center of organic lifeforms: 12.7 light years away.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>My Knight,</p>
  <p>This place, it weighs on me.  I hung your pendant as requested over the sole window in this room.  When I sit at my desk and look out at it, my head clears as I think of you.  My mind is clouded the rest of the days, weighed down by the invisible chains that keep me here.  Please, my Knight, write to me again so that I may hear your voice.  I am not sure how much more of this I can bear.</p>
  <p>I remain, Your Princess</p>
</blockquote><p>Letter sent from the forward scouting station located at the Lagrange point between the paired stars in the binary system Centurion X 2325.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>My beloved Princess,</p>
  <p>You last letter leaves me deeply concerned.  I have requested leave from my current station to take on another job.  I cannot write much at this time, but I will update you as soon as possible.</p>
  <p>I am told the geological expedition was a resounding success.  I still do not understand much of the jargon, but apparently there will be many new studies forthcoming in the planetary geology journals over the next several months.  I have enclosed a small fragment of a meteorite collected by the researchers on said expedition.  It was gifted to me in thanks for the escort provided, and I in turn gift it to you as a gesture of friendship.  If you have a door in your quarters, set this over it so that all who pass through it may receive the same blessing.</p>
  <p>Please send word so that I know you are well.  I hope the stars will align so that we may see one another again someday, and that that day will be in a future not too far from now.</p>
  <p>I remain, your most devoted and faithful servant.</p>
</blockquote><p>Letter sent by special courier from the outermost orbiting satellite of the planet Pseudopolaris 27-C-IV.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>My dear beloved Princess,</p>
  <p>I have had no reply from you to my last letter.  I hope there is only a failure of the mail system to blame, though I fear that is not the case.  I enclose in this letter a single lock of my hair.  Please, if you are able, wear it close to your heart so that you may always feel my love for you.  I would move mountains to protect you, my Princess.  I hope that I am not too late and that I may see you again.</p>
  <p>Please, my Princess, hold on for just a little longer.  Keep any letters you may write to me for they will not reach me in time.</p>
  <p>Wait for me, my Princess.  I am coming for you.</p>
</blockquote><p>Letter written from the highest tower on the planet Pseudopolaris 27-C-IV.  Population: 2.  Nearest major population center of organic life forms: 12.7 light years away.  The letter is unfinished.  A streak of ink is smeared across part of the page, as if the writer were interrupted before finishing.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>My dear Champion,</p>
  <p>Truly, you have honored the oaths you swore more than I ever could have dreamed when I named you my Champion.  I never would have survived this tower without your letters and the trinkets you sent.  Your last letter arrived just in time.  Though the small baubles enclosed in your letters resisted the forces of this place in their own small ways, the malicious, enervating energies were too strong to be defeated.  I may very well have succumbed to their influence had it not been for the most dear and personal gift you enclosed in your most recent missive.</p>
  <p>I see now the shape of what you sought to do, and I can report back that it was a resounding success.  You set the stage well, and with the final piece in place, the ward was completed.  There is nothing to be done about the ley lines that run under this place, but the other chains and traps have all been broken.</p>
  <p>I cannot send this letter lest it fall into the wrong hands.  I write it simply to express my gratitude before I forget, and to be a record should some ill fortune befall either of us.  If I have understood the message suggested by your last correspondence correctly, then you are on your way here as we speak.  I hope I have not caused you undue burden.  I will not try to stop you, for I know that would be futile, but I beseech you to please be careful on your journey.  Even I do not understand the full shape of the wards around this place.</p>
  <p>If I recall the geography of this solar system correctly and assume that you are traveling on a standard shuttle, then if I have executed the calculations correctly, you could be here as early as today.  It is perhaps foolish to hope for such a thing, and yet I find I cannot help myself.  You could be here any minute---</p>
</blockquote>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Happy Chocolate Box season!  I loved this prompt and the chance to play around with one of my favorite formats!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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